Sophie Gail

Sophie Garre was born in Paris in the parish of Saint Sulpice, the daughter of Marie-Louise Adelaide Colloz and surgeon Claude-Francois Garre (1730–1799). She studied piano as a child and published her first composition, a romance, at the age of 14. At the age of 19, she married editor Jean-Baptiste Gail (1755–1829) and had one son, Jean François Gail. She and her husband divorced in 1801, and Sophie Garre toured as a singer in Europe. She studied with Fétis, Perne and Sigismund Neukomm and wrote an opera comique as her first work for theater. Her compositions were praised by the critique Castil-Blaze as "the best works in this genre that flowed from the pen of a woman". Her works were very popular during her lifetime, with her two most popular operas accruing more than 250 performances. She died in Paris of tuberculosis at the age of 43.

Selected works include: • 1797, Deus airs for the drama Montoni • 1813, Les deux jaloux, opéra comique in 1 act • 1814, Il est vrai que Thibaut mérite, romance • 1853, Ma Fanchette est charmante, trio • 1813, Mademoiselle de Launay à la Bastille, opéra-comique in 1 act • 1813 Ma liberté, ma liberté, romance • 1814, Angela ou L'atelier de Jean Cousin, opéra comique in 1 act • 1814, La Méprise, opéra comique in 1 act • 1818, La Sérénade, opéra • 1807, N'est-ce pas elle, romance with piano accompaniment • 1807, La jeune et charmante Isabelle, romance • 1808, Heure de soir, romance with piano and harp accompaniment • 1814, Les devoirs du chevalier, romance on a poème de Creuzé de Lesser • 1814, Variations concertantes for flute and piano • 1861, Transcription variée de Moeris for piano • 1815, Prière aux songes, nocturne à deux voix sur un poème de M. Cheurlin, with piano and harp accompaniment • 1815, Le souvenir du diable • 1838, Le Diable, chansonnette sur un poème d'Arnault with piano • 1838, A mes fleurs, with piano • 1820, Les langueurs et le Le Serment, nocturnes with piano

On origins, the institutional record states the following. Born in 1775 at Paris. Institutional cataloguing adds that sophie Gail is recorded at birth as Garre. Gail died in 1819 at Paris.